April 27, 2010

Very interesting interview of Martin Downes by Scott Clark of Westminster Seminary/CA. Listen to it here. I continue to learn much from Martin. He's a clear thinker and has a cool British accent, so everything he says sounds very smart. ;-)

Seriously, this guy knows his stuff, and understands how heresy takes root. It is worth the listen if you need historical background coupled with pastoral concern.

April 26, 2010

Martin Downes spoke recently on the topic why heresy never dies. His home blog is Against Heresies. In his speech, he explains the danger and damage of heresies from a pastoral vantage point. He then explores a case study of the historical error of the Socinians and the resurgence of their thought through the open theism movement.

April 24, 2010

Here is a sampling of questions to discuss with the young adults in your church as they transition from high school to college. We simply must, must, must care pastorally for our young people when they disappear from weekly involvement in church and go off to college. Their absence from home does not break the commitment each church member makes to help care for one another. This is not the sole arena of the youth pastor. As strange as youth culture may seem, students do respond many times to even the smallest interaction. They have not moved to another planet, only to a new phase in their lives.

Given that they are away at school, you must seize opportunities to talk with them. Don't delay. Share your Christian love today.

April 23, 2010

I spend a fair amount of time dialoguing with Jehovah's Witnesses on the discussion board at CARM. I am going to post direct links to some of the threads. I think they might be helpful to many of the readers here.

Tell me the old, old story,Of unseen things above,Of Jesus and His Glory,of Jesus and His love.

Tell me the story simply,As to a little child,For I am weak and weary,And helpless and defiled.Tell me the old, old story,of Jesus and His love.

Tell me the story slowly,That I may take it in,--That wonderful redemption,God's remedy for sin.Tell me the story often,For I forget so soon;The "early dew" of morningHas passed away at noon.Tell me the old, old story, etc.

Tell me the story softly,With earnest tones and grave;Remember, I'm the sinnerWhom Jesus came to save!Tell me the story always,If you would really be,In any time of trouble,A comforter to me.Tell me the old, old story, etc.

Tell me the same old story,When you have cause to fearThat this world's empty gloryIs costing me too dear.Yes, and when that world's gloryShall dawn upon my soul,Tell me the old, old story:"Christ Jesus makes thee whole."Tell me the old, old story, etc.

April 22, 2010

Although Dan paints himself as one of the lesser lights of the evangelical blogosphere, I continue to be impressed with both the quality and volume of his writing. It takes me hours of struggle to put together a measly five paragraph post. Near as I can figure, Dan is a robot who doesn't sleep. I can't imagine any other way he can work full-time, care for his family, eat, sleep, and serve in the local church while pumping out multi-page, quality posts every single week.

Obviously, I'm not Dan. I may never be able to write like that. Even so, I will bring my widow's mite posts and place them in the Lord's treasury.

April 21, 2010

Kevin DeYoung gives good food for thought on the emotional life of God. He offers a corrective to the modern tendency to see suffering as real authenticity which then drives to the view that God must, in a sense, cut himself to be truly authentic.

April 5, 2010

Here's a brief update on where I'm at and what direction I hope to take in the next few months.

I've been reading, studying, and praying a lot about the atonement. It has occupied the majority of my studies for the last few months and likely will for a few more. I've read Leon Morris' popular work The Atonement and his much longer The Cross in the New Testament, finishing a few weeks ago (I still need to compile my notes/quotes from that one - there are plenty). I'm currently reading Jeffery, Ovey, and Sach's Pierced for Our Transgressions; which is proving to be quite dense and taking much longer to read than I had anticipated. Once I'm done with that, I found an old work by Charnock on Google Books that I've printed off, Discourses on Christ Crucified. It's on the top of my 'next to read' pile. It's relatively short and I've liked the snippets I've caught of it. I'm looking forward to spending some time getting to know Charnock the preacher. In the wings I have Carson's new book Scandalous, and Edwards and Shaw's Divine Substitute. Once I have digested those, I hope to tackle Owen's Death of Death in the Death of Christ.

On the blog and website front, I want to go back to my static (only because of my inattention) website and put together an introductory overview and response to the Jehovah's Witnesses. I've got a lot of notes and ideas and need to get back to publishing them through the site & blog. I will continue the series through Philippians on the blog. It is becoming one of my favorite books of the Bible.

All of this sounds quite daunting for me personally. I ask the good Lord of mercy and strength to magnify Him in everything.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalms 73:26)